Saudis' role in Iraq insurgency outlined (45% of all foreign militants)

[Barrett808]

Source: LA Times

Saudis' role in Iraq insurgency outlined
Sunni extremists from Saudi Arabia make up half the foreign fighters in Iraq, many suicide bombers, a U.S. official says.
By Ned Parker, Times Staff Writer
July 15, 2007

BAGHDAD — Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency.

He said 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.

The situation has left the U.S. military in the awkward position of battling an enemy whose top source of foreign fighters is a key ally that at best has not been able to prevent its citizens from undertaking bloody attacks in Iraq, and at worst shares complicity in sending extremists to commit attacks against U.S. forces, Iraqi civilians and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi15jul15,0,3132262.story?coll=la-home-center

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Saudi Suspects Overwhelm Iraqi Legal System
Iraqi Official: 160 Saudi Suspects Tried, Hundreds More in Prison Awaiting Trial

Riyadh, Jul 15, (VOI) – Over 160 Saudis were tried in Iraq and hundreds are still awaiting trial, Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said in an interview with the Jeddah-based Okaz newspaper.

On the official number of Saudis in Iraq, al-Rubaie revealed that hundreds of Saudis have entered Iraq after the U.S-led invasion in 2003.

"Many of them were killed in suicide operations and others are still being held in Iraqi prisons and detention camps, in addition to those killed during the past four years," he added.

"The issue was open for discussion with Saudi officials and we set up a hotline with them to follow up on developments," al-Rubaie said in reference to Saudi prisoners in Iraq.

(more)

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3594

[aquart]

1. Bomb the Saudis!

Okay, I admit wanting to do that since 9/11. Find me any building with 3,000 people in it and we'll call it square.

[Danieljay]

2. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! As were the origina hijackers! Hello? n/t

[Botany]

3. This is the real story

The majority of attacks on Americans are carried out by Sunnis with the
backing of some Saudis. The Saudi were behind 9/11 and support radical
Islam through Whabbism. Our good friends the Saudis :puke:

But bush & comapny al Qaeda, Iran, Syria, .......

[OregonBlue]

4. So 70% are Saudi, Syrian, Lebanese, North African. That leaves 30%. Of that 30%

how many are Iranian? I'm sure they neither know or care, they just want to continue with the Iran boogieman theme!!

[TomClash]

5. How ironic! Or maybe not . . .

Draw your own conclusions.

[jaksavage]

6. Put that on the front page

When will our nation see
Why can't our people hear
What will it take to make us feel
Where will we draw the line
Who will show us the way


??????????????????????????????

[bronxiteforever]

7. Wow-Every American should read this article

I wonder how many will? Important piece of the truth. K & R

[MidwestTransplant]

8. Finally being reported.

[Drum]

9. Rec #5

Let's shine a light on this...our "pals" in the Gulf.

If there's a societal structure the * wants for our country, I'll bet it's the Saudi one.
:(

[Barrett808]

10. Excellent, thanks. n/t

[Coventina]

11. Warning! Pointing out bad things about the Saudis makes you

an "ugly American."

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. We're fighting them in Iraq cuz...... we can't fight them in Saudi

Arabia.... and we wouldn't be fighting them in Iraq if we weren't there, and we wouldn't be fighting them here either.

[bvar22]

13. The Shiite/Iran are BLOOD ENEMIES of Al Qaeda

If Bush really wants to exterminate AlQaeda in Iraq, all he has to do is LEAVE. The Iraqi Shiite along with secular Sunni Nationalists will quickly exterminate any AlQaeda left in Iraq.

THEN, the Sunnis and Shiites will either:
1) Have their civil war, perhaps extending to a regional was between Saudi & Iran,

OR

2) Use their secular Iraqi Nationalist cultural roots to come together and solve the internal problem of religious extremism.

No one KNOWS which will happen.
The longer the USA stays in Iraq, the worse the internal problem of Iraqi religious extremism becomes.

[CJCRANE]

14. Do you think

Bush ever seriously wanted to destroy al-Qaeda?

Everything he's done has had the opposite effect not to mention that it's bankrolled by Bushco associates.

A-Qaeda is used as a strategic tool that can be manipulated by Bushco's buddies to serve their interests.

[AndyTiedye]

15. With "Friends" Like the Saudis, Who Needs Enemies?

[AntiFascist]

16. Unfortunately this thread is playing right into the hands of PNAC...

because, doesn't it ultimately call for attacking Saudi Arabia?

The Saudi Royals have been in constant fear of an uprising in their own country because of their cooperation with and support of the US. There are reports and speculation that they have been blackmailed into providing financial support for al Qaeda prior to 9/11. What if the plan is ultimately to have their own nation attacked so as to suppress any and all threats of their own insurgency? One could almost guarantee that if Saudi Arabia is bombed, we will likely not be targeting the true financiers of the arms trade and terror.

[SQinAZ]

17. Bush IS the Terrorist in Chief...no doubt now

When I read this article with my first cup of coffee this morning, I got angry. I immediately wrote to Bush and my Senators (via Congress.org). I've tried spreading this article around the internet, in the hopes that more people read it. When I did a Google search on it a few hours ago, only two sources appeared. That is sad.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!! Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were from SAUDI ARABIA! That is 79%. Yet did Bush do anything to punish the Saudi's for this attack on our soil against our people? Nope...he was still photographed tip-toeing through the tulips with then Saudi Crown Prince Abudullah. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/04/images/20050425-8_hw9v0295jasjpg-1-515h.html . And don't forget this infamous Bush quote about Saudi Osama bin Laden: ""I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

Now we find out that, after over 3,600 US Military have lost their lives in Iraq, the Saudi's comprise 45% of the non-Iraqi's who are killing our fellow citizens???

Why is Bush still in office???????????

[Barrett808]

18. Juan Cole: Egyptian, Sudanese Jihadi Volunteers Suspected by Iraq?

Egyptian, Sudanese Jihadi Volunteers Suspected by Iraq?

This wire service compilation done by the Daily Star adds more information on foreign detainees in Iraq. As I read it, in addition to the over 160 suspected foreign fighters held by the US, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior is holding another 560 such foreigners. They had arrested 4 times that number in recent months but appear to have cleared the others. Although they briefly detained some 461 Iranians, they let all of them go. Presumably these were pilgrims to the Shiite shrines who for one reason or another fell under suspicion. The LA Times reported yesterday that nearly half of the detainees in US military custody are Saudis. Not so for the suspected jihadis held by the Iraqis. They have only 9 Saudis. About half of their detainees are Egyptian, and a fifth are Sudanese. The Iraqi security services clearly think their biggest problem is jihadi volunteers from the Nile Valley. But the picture emerging from the two sets of detainees is that the publics of the two main US allies in the Middle East, Saudia and Egypt, are the most likely to fall under suspicion of supporting the insurgency. While suspicion falls on some Iranians, they appear to be cleared quickly and released.

(more)

http://www.juancole.com/2007/07/egyptian-sudanese-jihadi-volunteers.html

[Vidar]

19. If any country had to be invaded, it was Saudi Arabia, not Iraq or Afghanistan.